b. To undergo or be subjected to (a negative experience or development): a team that suffered a defeat; a species that suffered a decline in population; a business that suffered huge losses.

2.

a. To put up with; tolerate: She does not suffer fools easily. See Synonyms at endure.

b. To permit; allow: "They were not suffered to aspire to so exalted a position as that of streetcar conductor"(Edmund S. Morgan).

[Middle English suffren, from Old French sufrir, from Vulgar Latin *sufferīre, from Latin sufferre : sub-, sub- + ferre, to carry; see bher- in Indo-European roots.]

suf′fer·er n.

suf′fer·ing·ly adv.

suffer

(ˈsʌfə)

vb

1. to undergo or be subjected to (pain, punishment, etc)

2. (tr) to undergo or experience (anything): to suffer a change of management.

3. (intr) to be set at a disadvantage: this author suffers in translation.

4. to be prepared to endure (pain, death, etc): he suffers for the cause of freedom.

5. (tr) archaic to permit (someone to do something): suffer the little children to come unto me.

6. suffer from

a. to be ill with, esp recurrently

b. to be given to: he suffers from a tendency to exaggerate.

[C13: from Old French soffrir, from Latin sufferre, from sub- + ferre to bear]

ˈsufferern

Usage: It is better to avoid using the words suffer and sufferer in relation to chronic illness or disability. They may be considered demeaning and disempowering. Suitable alternative are have, experience, be diagnosed with

suf•fer

(ˈsʌf ər)

v.i.

1. to undergo or feel pain or great distress.

2. to sustain injury, disadvantage, or loss.

3. to endure or be afflicted with something temporarily or chronically: to suffer with a cold; to suffer from parkinsonism.

suffer - undergo (as of injuries and illnesses); "She suffered a fracture in the accident"; "He had an insulin shock after eating three candy bars"; "She got a bruise on her leg"; "He got his arm broken in the scuffle"

suffer - put up with something or somebody unpleasant; "I cannot bear his constant criticism"; "The new secretary had to endure a lot of unprofessional remarks"; "he learned to tolerate the heat"; "She stuck out two years in a miserable marriage"

live with, swallow, accept - tolerate or accommodate oneself to; "I shall have to accept these unpleasant working conditions"; "I swallowed the insult"; "She has learned to live with her husband's little idiosyncrasies"

be - have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun); "John is rich"; "This is not a good answer"

9.

suffer - be given to; "She suffers from a tendency to talk too much"

be given, incline, tend, lean, run - have a tendency or disposition to do or be something; be inclined; "She tends to be nervous before her lectures"; "These dresses run small"; "He inclined to corpulence"

I don't believe any of you suffer as I do," cried Amy, "for you don't have to go to school with impertinent girls, who plague you if you don't know your lessons, and laugh at your dresses, and label your father if he isn't rich, and insult you when your nose isn't nice.

Your feelings are all quite right, dear, and interesting, and I love you for them; but, then, dear, we mustn't suffer our feelings to run away with our judgment; you must consider it's a matter of private feeling,--there are great public interests involved,--there is such a state of public agitation rising, that we must put aside our private feelings.

I do not hesitate to say, that those who call themselves Abolitionists should at once effectually withdraw their support, both in person and property, from the government of Massachusetts, and not wait till they constitute a majority of one, before they suffer the right to prevail through them.

Woodhouse would not suffer him to deceive himself long; and now he confessed his persuasion, that such a transplantation would be a risk of her father's comfort, perhaps even of his life, which must not be hazarded.

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